Le Strange Perspective
by My Patronus is a Mockingjay
Summary: Bella's perspective of major events in her life, including her trial, marriage, becoming a death eater, and sealing the unbreakable vow, with more coming. Please R&R, because it lifts my confidence so much
1. Azkaban admittance

"_Bellatrix LeStrange, nee Black, you have been formally sentenced to life in Azkaban prison for crimes against Alice and Frank Longbottom alongside numerous other attacks on muggles, 'muggle-born' witches and wizards, and also a few attacks on 'half-blooded' witches and wizards. Your sentence may be shortened if you give the court any other evidence against the so called army of 'death eaters' under the command of a one Thomas Marvolo Riddle. Do you wish to do so_?" requested Barty Crouch Sr.

Bella rolled her eyes. Give up her colleagues? Even those cowardly enough to pretend that they were under the imperious curse? Never. Her Lord would be ashamed of her if she did, and that would be the worst punishment imaginable. She knew that the Dark lord would rise again before her sentence had fulfilled itself. She knew the weakling Igor Karkaroff was planning to tell crouch that his prized only son was a Death eater too and one close to the dark lord before his fall as well as that. No, her hated husband had decided to serve the full punishment, and even though she detested him, he couldn't be seen as more devoted to Voldemort as she was. The truth was in fact, that Bella was in love with Voldemort himself. It would not be prudent to disclose this fact to anyone, as it would make it seem as Bella thought she was on the same level as Voldemort, and therefore at a liberty to love him. No, that was unthinkable, but for now, Bella would have to wait to serve her lord, knowing that she was the only one to know that the Lord had created a way to survive, even after being hit with the killing curse. Voldemort had not told Bella precisely what he was using, but her love for knowledge of dark magic had provided her with a well educated guess: he was using Horcruxes. That was the thing about the dark lord; he always did think he was above anyone else. No! Bellatrix couldn't think like that, of course her Lord was above her, to try and argue against it was stupid. Even those revolting, vile mud bloods knew it: they said that he was a cruel, evil and twisted tyrant, but yes, the most powerful wizard known, unless perhaps you counted Dumbledore, but of Course to Bella, he didn't. Dumbledore was an old man, and old men have a habit of Dying. Far more appealing would be to put your trust in a young, handsome, clever Man, who still had a long way to go, and that was how Bella made her choice.

"_The Dark Lord will rise again, Crouch! Throw us into Azkaban; we will wait! He will rise again and will come for us; he will reward us beyond any of his other supporters! We alone were faithful! We alone tried to find him!_" she spat hatefully, and Crouch seemed taken aback. Bellatrix knew from his pained expression what he was thinking, after all she had changed a lot from the polite, pretty girl who Barty Jr. Used to court on Saturday afternoons. It was astonishing how the oldish man thought that his son could marry her. Yes, Bella would keep him in shape, she recounted the many occasions when Jr. Had gone off the rails: there was the muggle drug instance, and the time he had used love potions on 65 witches at the same time to please his teenage desires, and so many more times. But unfortunately, Crouch was a half-blood. Not quite as despicable as the mudbloods, but marrying a wealthy pureblood like LeStrange would ultimately be more beneficial and elevate her status in society, by that, she meant purebloods. To Bella, no one else mattered, except a few very influential half-bloods like crouch, indeed, the only reason he was allowed to join Lord Voldemort's ranks was because of his father, as a very highly respected politician in the Ministry, and he then proved infinitely useful to the dark lord's cause. Mudbloods, however, were a different story. Bella didn't care if one of them was the Queen of Sheba, they didn't deserve to have magic.

"_In that case, may the wizengamot see that dementors escort Mrs. Lestrange to high security cell number 93 with immediate effect, for as long as she lives."_ concluded Crouch, deeply saddened. The four hideous creatures advanced toward Bellatrix. Just before the terror and nausea of the dementors washed over her, Bella remembered her patronus, a snake. After much studying, she decided that this must've been because of her Love for the Dark Lord: the snake representing Voldemort's prized serpent, Nagini, which Bella guessed was a horcrux, Voldemort's noble ability to speak parseltounge, and also his animagus form. It was true that the dark lord could not love, but what Bella was even surer about was the fact that she loved him. Yes, she was going to Azkaban, but she could still hope; hope that maybe after a lifetime, her Lord would be able to love Bella the way she loved him.


	2. To be a Death Eater

Bellatrix Black knelt on her knees in front of Lord Voldemort, for her, it was like torture to be so close to him, but yet so far. Although she had gone to great lengths to conceal her adoration of the powerful man, she knew that he had learned of her feelings, and that was why she was on the cold stone floor of the Slytherin common room. She was in her 7th year of Hogwarts and had been close to being the first girl or woman ever to be invited to join Tom Riddle's infamous gang who called themselves the Death Eaters.

Bella never meant to fall in love. She, her mother, father and fiancé: Rudolphus LeStrange had all told her not to do this. From her parents, she expected this, Cygnus and Druella Black had not married for love, they had done so for power, for status, and to keep a pure blood line going. Bella was a Daddy's girl, whenever her father was at home, and her mother Druella was a strict, no-nonsense woman, who was upset she had produced three daughters and no heir. This meant that the whole Black Estate would go to their Blood traitor cousin Sirius, as his mother, and Bella's aunt Walburga had not yet learnt of his erratic ways. What surprised Bella was that Rudolphus had agreed with her mother. Bellatrix put allies above friends and power above contentment- only a weak person would do otherwise- but she was a passionate girl. Bella took any chance she could get to seduce the boys in her years, only the Slytherins of course, possibly with the exception of a few Ravenclaws, after all Ravenclaw was the bride of Slytherin, and thoroughly enjoyed having a few minutes of heated kissing with random people. Rudolphus didn't mind in the slightest, and this irritated Bella- he didn't care, he wasn't a complete idiot, and he knew that these little episodes were indeed little, and usually aimed to spite Rudolphus himself (Bella had never laid a finger on him, and swore to his face that she never would, even if it meant producing no heir). But Bella was one step ahead of Rudolphus, not meaning to of course, because one of her 'little' episodes had grown to being not so little at all. Bella was absolutely infatuated with Tom Riddle: intelligent, mysterious, popular, and very, very handsome, but he was way out of her league.

Bella was sure that Tom would invite her to join the death eaters, after all, she had spent so many evenings over the last three years either with him in the room of requirement, a place which Tom had solely told her about or the chamber of secrets, which again, Tom was exclusively allowed access to, as he was the heir of Slytherin. On other days, Bella had sat with him in the restricted section of the library (the young Madam Pince was yet another woman he had charmed his way around), reading about dark magic. Bella had learned most of her skill from her idol, and he in turn had unadmittedly accepted her coaching of the unforgivable curses. One of the best days of Bella's life had been when Tom told her that she had performed the best Cruciatus curse he had ever seen. But now she had blown it all by telling her sister, Narcissa of her feelings for the young man. Undoubtedly, Narcissa had been bullied into telling her fiancé, Lucius of the turn of events, and had told Tom. He spoke in his cold voice to Bella,

"Bellatrix Black, you are a very skilled witch." He stated, Bella didn't know whether to agree or not to say anything! In the end, she chose to stay silent. After a few moments of silence, tom continued,

"You have proved yourself to be devoted to my cause of hunting out mudbloods and other filth and also to helping and serving me,"

"Yes, Tom," she cut him off," Whatever Lucius or Narcissa has said-ignore it, it was a mistake and I-"Now it was Tom's turn to cut off Bella,

"From now on, you shall call me Lord Voldemort." Tom said. Bella was astounded, this was the name she had invented, as 'I am Lord Voldemort' was an anagram of his own name, Tom Marvolo Riddle, and she knew Tom-no, Voldemort was planning to use it as his stage name of sorts. It was the name that only Death Eaters would know of-for now at least, Tom had told Bella of his plan to take the whole world by storm, putting muggles in their rightful place, and ruling Wizardkind. When he had done so, everyone would call him Lord Voldemort. Then Bella realised... Voldemort was asking her to join his death eaters!

"Yes, yes of course I will! I have always agreed with your cause, and I swear that I will be your most loyal servant and-" Bella was ecstatic, and once again, didn't mind when she was cut off by Voldemort,

"Servants," he mused, smirking, "Good idea, Bella, of course a Lord must have servants, and you... You shall be my most trusted servant, above all others, " He lifted Bella's sharp chin, pulling her into a standing position, "With your intelligence, "he explained, gently pulling her an inch closer to him, "Skill," he continued, pulling her a notch even closer, while Bella's chest heaved, "and... exceptional beauty, "by now, Bellatrix's mind was whirling, aching to get closer to Lord Voldemort, who was stroking her cheek, "You shall be a highly prized weapon." He finished.

_SLAM_

Rudolphus stormed in,

"Bella." He said tautly, "Tom."

"DO NOT CALL ME BY THAT FILTHY MUGGLE NAME, LESTRANGE." Voldemort screamed.

"I... I... I'm sorry, my lord," said Rudolphus, backing away slowly, "I'll j-just be g-going now,"

"Ah, it doesn't matter now," Voldemort sat angrily, his attention whipping back to Bella, who was still breathing heavily. He lifted her hand to his lips curtly, his eyes never leaving hers, until he spun round and left the room swiftly. Bella came out of her daze, and angrily faced Rudolphus,

"What do you want, anyway, LeStrange," She asked, her lip curling,

"I-it's in three months," he stammered, while Bella gave him a questioning look, "oh, I-I mean, our...wedding?"


	3. A Stolen Kiss

Bella waited in anticipation for an hour to go up. She was in her tower room in the Lakeside Manor, waiting for her wedding. Narcissa was there, and while Bella did care for Cissy, she did find her flitting little motions rather irritating. Bella stared at herself in the long mirror in front of her. To speak it herself would be unseemly, but to quote many acquaintances, she did look stunning. Bella's raven black hair matched the shiny silk that she wore. Admittedly, Bella thought she would have preferred one of the white lacy things her friend, Elsbeth Greengrass wore to her wedding, but being a Black, nothing worked the normal way. She had heard from one of the other Slytherins who, much to Bella's disdain had started taking Muggle studies, that a white wedding dress symbolised a new start, and a new life with your spouse. Well, that was one thing Bella could definitely live without. Rudolphus LeStrange: wimp, weirdo and mentally deficient in any social situation. He was a hopeless case, and what's more, not Lord Voldemort.

There came a knock on the door.

"_Homonium Revelio_", whispered Bella, and a pale face with smart, black hair swum into view, "Tom," she breathed, and flung open the door. Standing there, in pristine black dress robes, was lord Voldemort. He gestured to the room,

"May I come in, Bellatrix?" he requested coldly. Yes, something was definitely wrong. Tom never called her Bellatrix, only her affectionate nickname, and he was always proud around her, like he actually liked spending time with her. To say the least, Bella was lost for words. She slowly stepped aside to allow Voldemort to enter, and a terrified Narcissa scuttled from the chamber.

"I did it, Bella, "he said, breathlessly, "I made a hor- thing to keep me alive!" Bella inhaled sharply. It wasn't that she didn't admire the dark Lord's courage and skill-she was just a little intimidated. Tom had taught Bella much dark magic, but even a few things he kept to himself. Unfortunately for Tom, but he had also taught her to sneak where she shouldn't as well, leading her to strongly suspect that he had made a Horcrux, and that now a piece of his soul resided in an inanimate object somewhere. What made Bella shiver, was that to create one, you had to kill. A person.

"You made a Horcrux." Stated Bellatrix, bluntly, while Voldemort looked mildly impressed.

"Yes. "He replied, similarly as nonchalantly. Bella smirked, giving him a smug look.

"The question is, "she continued, "How in Merlin's name did you hide it? I mean, surely not even the depths of the Albanian forest of the red caps could conceal such a powerful thing!" Once again, Voldemort looked like he had just solved the Big Bang theory (perhaps Wizard Who really was a time lord?)

"I cannot tell you, Bella, only I can know such important details," Bella was put out,

"But I have done so much work for you. You said I would be a valuable asset to your cause!"

"Well, I'm not saying you would sell your way out, but you may be tortured into giving-"

"Tom Riddle! You very well know my cruciatus could rival most great wizards!" Bella fumed, and it was Voldemort's turn to smirk.

"I am pretending, Bella. And remember that I answer not to that name anymore. While you may not know the whereabouts of my Horcruxes, I shall tell you of the amount I plan to make," he said, while Bellatrix waited eagerly, "I shall make seven."

Bella was astounded. Seven horcruxes? That was a...very large amount of people to kill. At that moment, Narcissa poked her head around the door.

"Bells, the ceremony starts in 5 minutes," she prompted, nodding at Voldemort.

"My Lord, I can't marry Rudolphus, he is ignorant and stupid, I could marry you, and you are pureblood too, my parents would be even happier and... so would I..." Tom's face hardened, contorting slightly.

"Bella... I have to tell you something... this is really hard for me..." he said slowly, before blurting out the unexpected," I'm a half-blood!" Bella stood stock still, brain whirring. This whole experience was new; she even surprised herself when she did the same. Bella glanced over to Voldemort, who was staring out of a window, before awkwardly shuffling over to the man in the corner. Slowly, she reached for his cheek, her cold fingers stroking it gently, bringing him to face her. She took a deep breath, and took the one thing she needed, a stolen kiss. The shock in his eyes matched the same in her heart,

"Tom," she breathed, and this time, he didn't flinch," I still fell for you."


End file.
